Welcome to the Gary Cooper Scrapbook Message Board. Here you can talk about Gary's films and his life."Strong, clean-limbed, and tall; lean as the wild horses he had broken in his boyhood, Gary arrived. And health and wholesomeness came with him. Like a living flame he purged those about him. His pictures reveal his influence. For, no matter how he is cast—cowboy or cavalier, drunkard or wastrel, there can be no taint of decadence in his work. Something wholly alive, and hence pure and clean, shows through the fogs of his acting. No, Gary Cooper, hero or villain, always keeps us enthralled by virtue of that dynamic force within him.” – Fan letter to magazine by Eva Pratt (1932)

Post by Coopsgirl on Oct 7, 2010 17:01:15 GMT -6

The first film of the 1930s for Gary was Seven Days Leave released on Jan 25, 1930. It was based on a popular play titled The Old Lady Shows her Medals and costarred Beryl Mercer.

This film was considered to be a “woman’s picture” or “chick flick” in modern parlance and Gary was reticent to do it but he had no choice. However this film was very different from most chick flicks at the time as it focused on the relationship between mother and son as opposed to a typical romance between a man and woman. I think because of this, this film got more attention and Gary received very good reviews for his performance.

The story is set in England during the first World War and focuses on Beryl Mercer’s character who is a charwoman or cleaning lady. She has no family or children and feels guilty because so many others have sacrificed husbands and sons to the war effort and she had no one to give. She has recently moved to London and since no one there knows her, she makes up a son and tells her new friends that he’s fighting as a member of a Scottish regiment known as the Black Watch. When reading the paper one day she saw the name of a soldier, Kenneth Dowey, and since that was also her last name she chose him. He had recently been wounded and was given a decoration and she thought he sounded like an honorable man.

Next we cut to Kenneth as he is being given seven days leave which he plans to spend in London. However we soon discover from his cavalier attitude that he’s not exactly a model soldier. He wanted the leave to go and meet a young lady who he had been corresponding with and who often sent him sweets like cakes. Since he’s in a Scottish regiment we get to see his long legs in a kilt throughout the entire film. To explain the fact that he doesn’t have a Scottish accent we later find out he’s from Canada.

It turns out that Ms. Dowey’s priest is at the train station greeting soldiers coming from the continent when he runs into Private Dowey who looks lost. He assumes this is her son and he takes him to where she lives. He then leaves them alone and assumes they will have a happy reunion. Kenneth is skeptical of her and wants to know why she told people she was his mother. She explains that she felt guilty over having no sons and she tries to get him to stay and have tea with her. He relents and agrees. She brings out a cake decorated the same as the ones he received from what he thought was a female admirer. He is quite upset when he realizes they all came from this old lady. Despite his anger he decides to stay and chat a bit longer with her. At first he told her that he had parents but later he explains that he also has no family and he only told her that because he wasn’t sure of her intentions. He decides to give her a test run as a mother and she is thrilled.

There is a very cute scene where we see Kenneth trying to take a bath in Ms. Dowey’s very tiny bathtub. His knees are up to his chest and I don’t see how he ever managed to fit into it, or get back out of it.

They get all spiffied up and he takes her out for a night on the town. She parades him by where her friends live and they all look out the windows and are quite impressed with the tall, handsome soldier. They have a nice evening and one young lady gives Kenneth her address as she passes him on the street. Once they get home he tells his “mother” he has to go but she insists that it’s time for bed and she wants to tuck him in like she would have done when he was little if he had really been her son. He goes along with it and takes off his clothes and tells her to turn around and then he jumps into bed. She spoils his plans however when she takes his clothes with her to her friend’s apartment upstairs where she will be staying since she only has the one bed.

A couple days later Kenneth, Ms. Dowey, and her friends meet at the pub nearby and he is at the bar ordering drinks. A couple of men are standing behind him talking about how Scotsmen don’t wear undergarments beneath their kilts and they decide to see if this is true. They lift up his kilt (unfortunately we don’t get to see it from their vantage point – ha!) and this causes a fight to break out as Kenneth goes after them. Ms. Dowey encourages him to leave before the cops come and he says he doesn’t care. She tells him he could get discharged from the service and he tells her that he doesn’t really want to fight anyway. This breaks her heart as she thought he was a good soldier. He’s been playing a pretty tough guy through the whole film but she has started to warm his cold heart. He can tell how upset his confession makes her so he apologizes and convinces her that he didn’t mean it.

When the time comes for him to go back to the front, he tells her she passed the trial period and he approves of her. It’s a sweet scene and he gets down on one knee and asks her to be his mother.

Of course she agrees and then they say their goodbyes. They write letters back and forth and decide that when the war is over they will get a little farm somewhere and be a family. This is not to be however as he is killed in battle. His medals are sent back to his “mother” and we see her holding them close to her heart as she tries not to cry over the son she briefly had.

I don’t like it when Gary dies in a movie and this one is very sad. It’s also very good though and both Beryl and Gary did a wonderful job in their parts. We especially feel her pain as she longs for a son, the joy she has after finding one, and then the grief over his death. Gary did a really good job at being standoffish with her at first and then we can see him change as he is tired of being alone and he enjoys having a mother to care for him. Her gentle influence made him want to be a better person and he died a hero in battle.

“It’s literally true, as Shakespeare said--all the world’s a stage. It wasn’t that way when I first got into the movies in 1924, but it is now. That’s why I find Hollywood newer and more exciting every day. Whatever you hear it’s still a place where a kid from Montana can jump on a horse, ride that-a-way, and keep right on going.” – Gary Cooper, 1956

Post by on Feb 16, 2011 10:33:35 GMT -6

The first film of the 1930s for Gary was Seven Days Leave released on Jan 25, 1930. It was based on a popular play titled The Old Lady Shows her Medals and costarred Beryl Mercer.

I hate to disagree but I consider this movie one of my least favorite Gary movies. Beryl Mercer really ruined this movie for me with her constant whining. It was, however, kind of touching when Gary invited her to dinner and they danced and wow, what a sight, Gary in a kilt...too bad he didn't have enough time to lift it for us ladies ;D

Shoutbox

ghruth: is there any way to resurrect the full text of the Saturday Evening Post stories about Coop's career? I used to be Iron Hero..now I'm GHRuth and finishing up the book on Pride of the Yankees. I seem to be missing the part about Pride of the YankeesAug 20, 2016 21:39:21 GMT -6

matterbooboo: I have been told by my mother that I am a distant relation to Gary Cooper. My grandfather was called William Cooper, and he lived in Luton, Bedfordshire. I am trying to establish if there is a family link. Can anyone help? Mar 21, 2016 8:43:15 GMT -6

Coopsgirl: Ironhero, I do not have the rights to any of the pictures on this site. I just find them and repost them. Good luck with your book!Sept 27, 2015 14:29:37 GMT -6

ironhero: Hey Coopsgirl...I'm working on a book about "pride of the Yankees," and wondering about the photos on this site...they're incredible! Can you advise me on which ones may be public domain and which you had to license?Sept 25, 2015 13:35:26 GMT -6